US president en route to Israel on Air Force One; some 1,000 people expected to await him at airport; Israeli and US officials say 50-hour visit to set tone of the 2 leaders' relationship over next 4 years.
By SARA MILLER, HERB KEINONObama waves as he steps aboard Air Force One 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
With the red carpet still under its protective wrap, an incessant flurry of uniforms from all branches of Israel's security forces, as well as dignitaries, diplomats and reporters from all over the world gathered under a blue sky Wednesday morning to await the arrival of US President Barack Obama on his first visit since taking office in 2009.Video streaming by UstreamObama boarded Air Force One on Tuesday night in Washington and departed for Israel.The three-day state visit will encompass trips to Yad Vashem, Mount Herzl and the Israel Museum, as well as the obligatory series of meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Obama will then head to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II.Click here for full JPost coverage of Obama's visit to IsraelSome 1,000 people in total were to be at the airport. Netanyahu, along with President Shimon Peres and the newly sworn-in cabinet, will greet Obama after he lands at around 12:30 p.m. Strains of the 50-person orchestra rehearsing the US national anthem competed with the sound checks and a solo trumpeter running through scales.The president will then helicopter to Jerusalem for a reception at the President’s Residence. This was to be followed by a marathon three-part meeting with Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Residence: an initial two and- a-half hour meeting, followed by a 20-minute press conference, and then a dinner.The visit, announced last month, will cover a host of hot topics, including the increasingly precarious situation in Syria, Iran's nuclear ambitions and a moribund peace process. Netanyahu's new government includes rightist partners such as Bayit Yehudi, whose pro-settler affiliation may well have raised some eyebrows at the State Department in recent weeks. Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett has called for Israel to annex huge swathes of the West Bank, while foreign minister in waiting Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beytenu has announced that he will oppose any idea of a new settlement freeze.Obama and Netanyahu are expected to publicly paper over any differences on Iran during the American leader’s visit, with Netanyahu to express appreciation for the president’s repeated comment that Israel has the right to defend itself by itself against any threat.In addition to thanking Obama for his rhetorical support on this issue, Netanyahu – according to government officials – will also express Israeli gratitude to the US for its material support in this matter as well.A number of Israeli officials, as well as many of the country’s supporters abroad, have been lobbying for years to put Israel on Obama’s travel itinerary, saying his failure to visit during his first term sent the wrong message both to Israel and other countries in the region.Obama’s passing over Israel during his first term, while visiting Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, became a hot issue in the recent US elections.Netanyahu is expected to express his appreciation to Obama for visiting at the outset of his second term, and say that this demonstrates the depth of the relationship between the two countries.Both senior Israeli and US officials have said the 50-hour visit, much of which will be spent in Netanyahu’s company, will go a long way toward setting the tone of the two leaders’ relationship over the next four years.US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel Tuesday evening, preceding the president by some 19 hours. He did not have any scheduled meetings.Kerry’s itinerary, however, indicates that he will delve immediately into the nitty-gritty of the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process. While Kerry will accompany Obama to Jordan on Friday, unlike the president who will fly from Amman to Washington the next day, Kerry will return to Jerusalem Saturday night for a dinner meeting with Netanyahu that has been described as a “follow-up” meeting and is expected to concentrate on the Palestinian issue.This will be the tenth meeting between Obama and Netanyahu since they were sworn into office in 2009. They met twice before that as candidates. Obama has met one-on-one with Netanyahu more than with any other world leader, but never for as long as he will during the current visit.Find live Twitter updates from our reporters covering the Obama visit, here:
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